DC COMICS: Gotham (s1 ep01 Pilot)
Batman Family in the Media Gotham (Fox tv series) YOUTUBE: PLOT: Welcome to Gotham. It is night and an agile young girl (Selina Kyle) clad in black leaps across rooftops. She free falls to the street, swipes a a half gallon of milk from a shopper's bag by slicing it free and swipes a man's wallet. He gives chase but she eludes him by shimmying up a fire escape. She heads to an alley and feeds an alley cat some of the milk. The Waynes enter the alley and she slinks away again. A mugger confronts the family and demands money and the woman's necklace. The man then shoots both people right in front of their son. The masked man spares the boy who screams in anguish over his parents dead bodies as Selina Kyle looks on from above. Cut to a police precinct which is a hive of activity. A large perp grabs a cop and holds her hostage with a gun to her head demanding his pills. A young detective named Jim Gordon (Benjamin McKenzie) comes and takes control of the situation and offers him some aspirin and then handily disarms him. Then other cops start beating the the perp and Jim tries to stop them. An older cop, Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), pulls him away and chastises him for not taking a shot instead, calls it a rookie move. The pair, who are newly partnered, catch a homicide in the theatre district. We cut back to the earlier crime scene. Jim talks to the shivering young man who is named Bruce Wayne. Bullock realizes who the victims are and tries to convince the beat cop on the scene to call Major Crimes, the beat cop tells him no go. Jim tells Bruce that his dad was killed by a drunk driver while he was in the car and he knows how Bruce feels and that no matter how dark and scary the world is right now, there will be light. Gordon asks him to tell him everything and he recounts the scene, how the man had shiny shoes and shot his parents for no reason. Jim promises to bring the killer to justice. Alfred Pennyworth arrives on the scene and Bruce runs to embrace him. Alfred correctly assesses from Gordon's earnest demeanor that he is new to the Gotham PD and wishes him luck. Gordon and Bullock head to a diner to assess. Bullock wants to get rid of the case noting there will be heavy pressure on them and lots of media scrutiny since Thomas and Martha Wayne were billionaire philanthropists. Another set of cops, Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen, enter and try to convince Bullock and Gordon to give the case to them and the Major Crimes Unit. But Montoya gets up in Bullock's face and accuses him, essentially, of being dirty and angers him off and so they keep the case, which is what Gordon wanted since he promised Bruce. Bullock and Gordon go back to the precinct house where, alongside Captain Sara Essen, they watch the Mayor on TV saying they will close this case quickly. Bullock asks for a private moment with the captain. Gordon steps out and watches as Bullock basically asks for a new partner. He is declined. He gets up in Gordon's face sneering that she said Gordon was some kind of war hero and his daddy was a big shot DA back in the old days. He asks him to ask for a transfer and says Gotham is no place for nice guys. Gordon says he wants to be where the action is and that Bullock a cynic who is lackadaisical and slovenly. Bullock says it's time to roust some muggers. After a montage of ruffians basically tells them they know nothing they go see forensics geek Edward Nygma who explains the bullets used by the muggers were very expensive. Gordon thinks since the guy used high end bullets and had shiny shoes that it might have been a contract killer. Bullock says it's time to go see Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith). Fish is the right hand woman of gangster Carmine Falcone and the theatre district where the murder happened is her turf. Bullock and Gordon enter her nightclub but she's busy out back beating up an employee named Raul who has been stealing from. She is surrounded by a group of big thugs and Oswald Cobblepot who is holding a black umbrella over her head. She goes to talk with Harvey and Jim and Oswald, who is named Oswald Cobblepot but others taunt him by calling him Penguin, takes over the beating of Raul, which he seems to enjoy. Bullock and Fish--who seem very chummy-- have a private chat while Gordon goes to check out the beating scene. Since Gordon is with Bullock the thugs figure that Gordon too will be in their pocket. He disabuses them of this notion but he does stop the beating. He heads back in to see Bullock and Fish sharing a kiss on the lips and a friendly goodbye. Gordon head home to a very lovely fiancee named Barbara. They're both dressed up up to go somewhere but Gordon begs off whatever the occasion is and they decide to stay in. She compliments his suit and says it's good to see him out of his uniform. He admits he may be out of his depth with the Wayne case. She says she has faith in him and that if he's out of his depth it's time to swim. He says he will. In the morning, Bullock calls Gordon from a bar and says he has a tip from Fish. Gordon meets him and they head to the home of one Mario Pepper who has a long rap sheet and is generally a bad guy. They enter his home and question him while his wife Alice and daughter Ivy look on. When Bullock and Gordon intimate that they are going to have a look around his place, Pepper pulls a gun and takes off. After a lengthy foot chase and fistfight with Gordon across rooftops, through restaurants, and down alleys, Pepper has Gordon pinned down and Harvey saves his partner by shooting the man. Gordon thanks him. The CSIs going through Pepper's house discover Martha Wayne's pearl necklace in a bag of drugs. They've got their man. They are hailed as heroes in the paper and are given a welcome befitting just that back at the precinct house. Montoya and Allen get a visit from Oswald/Penguin, who slides into the back seat of their car to inform them that Pepper was framed by the cops, that the necklace was planted on him and that he knows this because he saw Fish with the necklace and then she was talking to Bullock. They wonder why he's telling them this. He says news of that sad orphan struck his heart. They see through this knowing that Cobblepot wants to push Fish out and be the big man. He says either way his story is true and they should check it out. At Wayne's funeral Gordon apologizes to Bruce that there would be no trial since Pepper is dead. They shake hands. Selina Kyle looks on from atop a nearby gravestone. Montoya promptly takes the Penguin's tip to Barbara. Montoya accuses Gordon of being in on the frame up and Barbara protests that Gordon is the most honest man she knows. Later that evening it's clear to Jim that something is wrong and Barbara tells him what happened. The next day he confronts Montoya and says that he was not in on it and he'll find out how it happened and to stay out of his way. Jim goes back to Mario Pepper's to look at his shoes: not a single pair of them is shiny like Bruce noted to him. He realizes it was a frame up. He goes to confront Bullock and says maybe Falcone wanted the Wayne's dead and that's why Fish was involved. Bullock essentially shakes it off saying they might have killed an innocent man and the real killers may still be out there but he doesn't care because if they stir things up, at the very least they will lose their jobs if not worse. Gordon doesn't care for this answer and goes to confront Fish, who promptly sets her thugs on him and then whacks him unconscious with a vase. The next day, Barbara goes to the precinct looking for Gordon saying he went out for a walk and never came back. Bullock lies and says he was on a stakeout. He goes to find his partner, who has been dragged into a meat locker by Fish's thug Butch Gilzean and is strung up by his feet. Bullocks asks to talk to Fish who is auditioning a comedian and he convinces her to let Gordon go and says one of her people snitched on her to Major Crimes. She makes him promise to keep Gordon under control. Bullock promises. He gives the phone back to one Fish's thugs and she says Bullock just threatened her and that he should kill him and Gordon. The thug knocks out Bullock. Fish turns to Oswald and has him rub her feet tekking Oswald that Carmine is going soft and it's time for a new boss and mentions that he's been like a son to her. Oswald wholeheartedly agrees with all of this and then mentions that she doesn't understand why he betrayed his mother knowing that he was the snitch since only he saw her with the pearl necklace. Oswald tries to pin it on one of the other thugs but Fish says that guy is loyal. Oswald says he's loyal to her and would open a vein right now for her. Fish hands him a knife and tells him to prove his loyalty and calls him Penguin. Oswald gets upset and tries and attack her but Fish beats him with a chair. Jim and Harvey hang upside down and note that they have had better days. A scary guy with a mask enters and picks up a butcher knife when a bunch of armed men enter and shoots most of the thugs. They are led by Carmine Falcone himself. He tells the lead thug that Fish is too impulsive and that there are rules and tells him to cut them down. Falcone tells Gordon that he knew his dad and he was the best DA Gotham ever had and they had mutual respect and friendship. Gordon is skeptical saying he knows that Falcone runs the mayor and the police department. Falcone says to trust him and that he knows Gordon will do the right thing. Gordon says he will tell what he knows but of course he can't prove Falcone killed the Waynes. Falcone says some thug killed them but that Pepper was framed so the people of Gotham could have swift justice and feel secure. He says he's a businessman and you can't have organized crime without law and order and he loves this city and it's falling apart and he doesn't want to see that happen. Gordon can't believe he wants him to keep quiet. Falcone says Gotham is on a knife edge and if Jim brings down the mayor and police the city wouldn't get better. Bullock tells Gordon that he wasn't ready for the truth. Gordon says he was ashamed. They stop the car and Oswald is in the trunk. Bullock tells him that Falcone wants Gordon to walk Oswald to the pier and make sure he's dead to prove he's "with the program." And if he doesn't Bullock is supposed to kill them both. Bullock says he likes Gordon but he will have to try to kill him. And even if he can't, someone will eventually and then they will kill Bullock too and probably Barbara too. Gordon doesn't want to. Bullock says he's killed people before. Gordon points out that was in the war. Bullock argues sometimes you have to do bad to do good and if he doesn't do this bad thing, he and Barbara will die. Gordon leads Oswald away. Oswald offer to be his spy in the coming war for Falcone's territory. He fires a shot but doesn't kill Oswald, instead telling him, before he falls into the water, to never return to Gotham. Gordon goes home and embraces Barbara. Gordon goes to Bruce and apologizes that they killed the wrong man. Bruce actually seems glad, saying he wants to see the man again. Gordon offers his badge and says Bruce has a choice to stay silent while he works to find the real killer or take his badge and go to the police and tell the truth. Baby Batman picks the first option and hands Gordon his badge back. As Gordon leaves, Selina Kyle watches from atop a nearby wall. Oswald surfaces on the other side of the river. He slashes the throat of a nearby fisherman and eats his sandwich maniacally. WHO'S WHO: This is the list of recurring characters. Category:Comic Books in the Media Category:Comic Book TV Series Category:DC Comics Category:Gotham Category:James Gordon Category:Fish Mooney Category:Batman - Bruce Wayne Category:Catwoman Selena Kyle Category:Oswald Cobblepot (Penguin) Category:Edward Nigma - Riddler Category:Carmine Falcone Category:Mayor Aubrey James Category:Renee Montoya Category:Crispus Allen Category:Poison Ivy Category:Butch Gitzean Category:Captain Sarah Essen Category:Alfred Pennyworth